The Violin

 

"It began with a violin Kevin..."said Fathead Newton..  He walked to his refrigerator and passed me a bottle of water and then clicked on his Ipod, which was hooked up to his Bose speakers...The music of Stevie Wonder filled the room and he began to talk...

"I had sold all of my connects and I was officially out of the game.....You know me Kevin...the last few years ,I didn't even venture into West Philadelphia...I held a lot of my meetings by "Facetime" with my lieutenants with Ralph Mole actually conducting the meetings...I stayed in the Northeast in my condo or down by Penns Landing in another of my condos...I never invited Big Cheese or Malik Clarke or China White and Pete Moss to my spots...They didn't know where I lived......"

"Anyway...I was done with all that....I was bored...For the first few weeks I was walking around with nothing to do...So I decided to improve my mind...I signed up for Violin lessons...There was classes in Queen Village...So I went there and began the lessons...Like I told ya...I used to play...Back in the day....With your girl, Sissy Van Buren...She was in my class...We were kids...I was a year or two older than her, but we used to talk.....

"Arthur...You're very good..You ought to work on your technique more..."said Sissy.

 

 

 

"You think so Siss?" I asked her..

"Yeah...I could see you playin in the Philadelphia Orchestra one day." she said.

"Imagine that! Me in the orchestra....I'm only here because my moms makes me play...She played when she was young..." I said.

"Mine too...My moms is a school teacher...School teacher's daughter has to do this kind of stuff."said Sissy.

We both laughed....

"Know what? I imagine we both gonna wind up doing somethin totally different one day." I said.

"Yeah...I see them guys you hang out with....You gone be out on the corner slingin...You're better than that Arthur." said Sissy.

"And you gone be a cop right?" I said.

She laughed....

"A cop? Me?? You must be kidding....Have you looked at me lately??  I'm going to be an actress." she said.

I smiled...

"I look at you a lot...I can believe that....How bout you and me rehearsing a -uh ruh love scene at my crib?? My mom aint home.." I said.

"Oh shut up Arthur...You are soo fresh." said Sissy.

"I'm serious." I said.

"That's what scares me...I know you are."she said..

And we both laughed our heads off...She never took me up on that offer...I sure wished she had of.." he mused.

 I was stunned..

''Wow Fathead....So you knew Sissy huh?" I said "I didn't know that." I said.

"Yeah..We both were enrolled at Settlement Music Academy...That was a long time ago...You think she's fine now...You should have seen her as a teenager...Lawd have mercy....And she's still fine..." he laughed...

"Funny how things work out...You did become a gangster...and she did become a cop..What happened to her acting career?" I asked.

"You have to ask her that....You guys are on a first name basis...She'll tell you..I don't know what happened...I didn't see her for years and the next time I did..She was a detective... Had Duke,Tyriq and your old girlfriend,Angie Belton with her...They were still uniform cops then...working under her...That was a long time ago...Look at all of em now.." he smiled wistfully...."Me and Duke played football on the same high school team..with Keith Wallace...Imagine them busting me?   I'm glad I got out of the game when I did...said Fathead...

He finished his story....I must admit...this was mesmerizing and eye opening...It is indeed a small world...You have no idea who knows who.. Gus always said that Philadelphia was a small town disguised as a Big City.

"I began taking the lessons again...I was the only black male in the class....There were two black females...One was my mother's age and the other.....Lawd have mercy.....Was Contessa Harris..."

"Kev, she was beautiful...Since we were the only two blacks of the same age...Naturally we were drawn to each other..It began as conversations after work...Then a cup of coffee or two and then I drove her home a few times...At first she had this wall up...She didn't say too much about herself....But gradually I kept talking to her and working on her and she opened up a bit...

"She said that she always felt that I had some big secret, some other life that I never talked about...I told her that I felt the same about her...we laughed about it... After a few months...She allowed me to take her out to dinner..I stayed away from places where I might be known or recognized...And funny thing...I got the feeling she was doing the same...I couldn't be sure.."

"You know me Kev...with the strippers and workin girls...I actually stopped all of that....I stopped smokin weed because she didn't do it anymore..I started goin to the gym and working out with her and she was talking about going back to school in the fall and believe it or not...So was I....All this Kev and I hadn't hit it yet...Six freakin months can you believe that??"he said.

"No...I can't believe that." I said and smiled..

"But when I did...Kev it was the best feelin in the world man....Lawd....After that gangwar broke out in West Philly last summer...I finally came clean and told her who I really was or who I used to be....I assured her that I had walked away from all of that and never intended to go back...I told her that I didn't have any secrets to keep from her...That's when she broke down and cried like a baby...I didn't know why and that was the night she let me have her..."

We were supposed to go the movies that night...We never made it. We wound up in my Penns Landing condo in my bedroom......
I was stripped down to my boxers , Her blouse and her bra was on the floor, I lifted her up and hiked her skirt up, slipped her panties down and slowly, gently, entered her....
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Arthur....I haven't had sex in two years....ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my goddddddddddd....ohhhhhhhhhhh it feels soooooooooooo goooooooooooooooooodddd." she said..
I couldn't believe she had been without sex for two years....I certainly hadn't!! I took my time...kissing her and thrusting mightily into her as though the world was coming to an end....I was going to show her what I had learned....
"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu sweeeet lorddddd...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." she moaned....
"OHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Contessa...I've wanted you sooooooooooo much! So long'' I moaned....

"She wrapped her legs around my back and I went in...I mean...I was trying my best to give her something she could feel....
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ARTHURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.."she continued to moan...
  The bed squeaked loudly.. and at one point I thought we were going to split the headboards....
An hour of this was all Contessa could take , she began to climax furiously and I felt myself about to explode... ,I pulled out and exploded like a gusher.....
''Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmphhhhh.." I moaned...
  Contessa and I lie across the bed, sweating and panting....
"Arthur...what did we just do?" she said..

"We made love baby." I said, totally satisfied...

"You don't even know me..."she said.

"I think I do now." I said smiling...

"What if I told you...that like you....I was somebody else too?" she said.

"I don't care...I just know how I feel about you now...Look...Maybe we need a change of scenary..Why don't we both go somewhere together...Somewhere where nobody knows us...where we can reinvent ourselves?" I said.

"Yeah right...Like where?" she said.

"Like Paris" I said.

"I wish" she said.

"We can!!! I have money...I told you who I used to be...We got nothing here ...Not anymore...Let's get out of here..Let's go away...Just you and me....Start all over again..." I said.

"Really Arthur?" she said.

"Yeah baby,really" I said..

I got out the bed...picked up my violin and smiled..

Paris...   and a week later...both of us were gone!" said Fathead.

"That was some story...So that's how you wound up in Paris..." I said.

"Yeah...and I'd still be there if not for the present situation..." he said.

II-

I gulped down my water and looked at Fathead...

"So she didn't tell you who she really is did she?" I asked..

"I didn't want to know.."he said ,hanging his head..

"Her real name is Annette Allegra...She was born and raised right here in Philadelphia Pa.  Had been educated in the Philadelphia School Sytem...Had gone to Community College for two years ,graduated and entered Temple....Dropping out after a semester...She had been arrested for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and had served six months in the county lock up and had been released...


After that ...She appeared to have cleaned her act up, working several jobs and living in a small apartment... I found the apartment...but of course she didn't live there anymore.. I found her mother...She's worried sick about her...She apparently didn't tell her mother she's been in Paris with you..." I said.

Fathead held his head down...

''That explains everything...She stole the identity of that woman because under her real name she had a drug conviction...and with paper on her...It would be pretty hard to get or keep a job...."he said...Which made sense...

"I found something else out too Fathead....The guy she was carrying for....Johnny Winchester....He works for Ike "Cold Hearted" Stewart...They met in the Federal Penn and when They got out...Cold Hearted put him on the street with a package....Annette was his girlfriend at the time...After she did her six months...She cut all ties with him...How did they find you in Paris?" I asked.

III-

Fathead smashed his big fist into the palm of his hands....

"Kev this punk got out of the joint and headed right back to Philadelphia...He laid low and as soon as Tornado Jones got whacked...He moved right in...With Richard "Ice" Waters, a hit man out of Chester....He took down a few independents and gobbled up some of my corners...But some of those other independents had a lot of fire power and they didn't buck...They stood their ground and not only held on to their corners but took back some of the corners he had.....He's a low level punk...He's still down in the streets...He's not even on my level....Anyway...He reached out and found out I was in Paris...I shouldn't have told nobody...
Next thing I know...Him, Ice Waters and Johnny Winchester show up in freakin Paris...wantin a sitdown with me..."

"I told em...I was out of the game and that they were free to do anything they wanted...Leave me out of it...But Stewart kept saying..."You're still the King man...If the youngins see you and me together they will bow down...Again I told him to take a hike...Johnny Winchester didn't say nothing...but he kept lookin at my girl funny...Like he knew her!  I didn't suspect nothin then...But she acted a little squirlley too...Now,thanks to you...I know the deal.."he said.

"Fathead,you remember...I dealt with Ike "Cold Hearted "Stewart before..." I said.

"Yeah...Kool Kat told me that you wouldn't let Eric "Shark Dollars" Redding kill him....You should have Kev..He's bad news...He's only going to bring bloodshed.."said Fathead...

I remembered well...our last meeting...Several years ago..

After we finished our drinks, Kool Kat and I walked out into Josie's parking lot...As soon as I got to the car, I heard the familiar click of a gun and turned and saw a glock pointed at Kool Kat's head....I wasn't surprised.

"What took you so long?" I said dryly....

" No time for jokes...just hand over my money." said Ike "Cold Hearted" Stewart..

''Aren't you surprised that I'm not surprised that you're here?" I asked him

Kool Kat looked at me...He was certainly wondering what was up....

"I don't give a damn whether you're surprised or not...I want my dough.." he snapped.

"You got what you thought was an anonymous tip right?"I laughed...

Cold Hearted looked around....

''This is a set up?" he said.

''And you're the pigeon" came the voice of Eric "Shark Dollars" Redding who had a .45 pointed at Ike "Cold Blooded " Stewart's head...


Kool Kat disarmed him and laughed his head off.....

I walked calmly to my trunk and took a gym bag out and opened it...I showed it to Eric.

''There's two hundred large in there...I deducted my employers amount and I broke baby girl off a few bucks so she could get out of town...The rest is yours as promised ." I said.

"Why you lousy dog...When I get through with you...." he barked...

"You aint in no position to be makin no threats." snapped Kool Kat ,who now had his .44 mag aimed at Ike"Cold Hearted " Stewart.

" Damn right..Thank you Kool Kat...And now....the icing on the cake...To ice this guy." sneered Shark Dollars as he cocked his pistol...

"Whoa partner....Let's not do anything drastic." I said.

"What?" asked Eric "Shark Dollars" Redding.

"Shark Dollars...you got your money...the guy who originally owed you is dead....There's no need for anymore killing. People in AC don't know the particulars...You still got your respect..Your name is ringing out on all of the corners...Killing him won't add to that." I said.

Cold Heart Stewart was confused...We had tried to kill each other only hours before and here I was pleading for his life to be spared.

''What then do you suggest I do?"asked Shark Dollars sarcastically.

I walked over to Ike "Cold Hearted" Stewart.....

"You get to walk out of this with your life and baby, life is priceless sometimes....If I were you,I'd catch the fastest thing smoking out of Philadelphia and I wouldn't exactly be headed to Atlantic City or New York anytime soon either...Feel me?" I said.

"Okay...you win...keep the dough...I'm out..." he said.

He wasn't a stupid man by any stretch of the imagination....He knew that he was beaten......he grudgingly got in his car and pulled off...

Eric ''Shark Dollars" Redding took the gym bag full of cash....He looked at Kool Kat  who just smiled and shrugged his shoulders...Then he looked at me and smiled..

"I don't agree with all of your methods...but you do know your business and you do get the damn job done...I owe you Kev....If you and your wife are ever in AC....Check me out...I'll hook you up...Believe that! That goes for you too Walter..." he said.

I smiled and nodded... Eric got in his car and he drove off.....

Kool Kat and I stood in the parking lot....

''Wow...I can't believe that nobody got killed  or went to jail tonight."he said.

"Miracles occur everyday." I said. Kool Kat looked at me and smiled.


Ike "Cold Hearted" Stewart turned up in Los Angelas... He wasn't there three months before he was indicted in an interstate drug smuggling scheme ,arrested, convicted and sentenced to 3-5 years in a federal pennitentiary.  Some people never learn!


IV-

 '' Fathead...If she's alive and they have her...I'll find her....I'll return her to you..." I said.

"That's all I ask..Kev...You find her and we are both out of here..." he said.

"What About Cold Hearted Stewart and his gang?" I asked..

"I don't give a damn about them...And if they are stupid enough to bother me again overseas...Nobody here will have to worry about them again..Ever!" he said.

"Don't worry..Maybe I can get your girl back and take Cold Hearted Stewart down too."I said.

"I hope so..." he said...He shook my hand...

I picked up his Violin....I passed it to him...

"You two will play again."I said.

"If you say so Kev...then I'll make bank on that."said Fathead.

(TO BE CONTINUED)